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Spying scandal – U.S. security agency really spied on top European officials?
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The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has used a partnership with Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit to spy on senior officials of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Danish state broadcaster DR.
The findings are the result of an internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service from 2015 into NSA’s role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation.
According to the investigation which covered 2012 and 2014, the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück.
Asked for comment on the DR report, a spokesperson for the German chancellery said it only became aware of the allegations when asked about them by journalists, and declined to comment further.
Denmark, a close ally of the United States, hosts several key landing stations for subsea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland and the UK.
The internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service was launched in 2014 following concerns about Edward Snowden’s leaks the previous year revealing how the NSA works, according to DR.